Originally Posted by Swampboy:
Fair enough. Our first vote is for umpires to deny the existence of uncertainty on close ball/strike calls. Others?
That’s not at all what I meant, and I think you know it. There’s uncertainty in just about any decision made during a baseball game that has an effect on it. MLB proved that when they approved IR. They didn’t question the umpire’s effort, but they did admit the possibility of them making a decision that was in error.
That’s all this is! People are realizing that humans have pretty much reached the upper limit of accuracy when it comes to calling pitches not swung at, and there’s a growing movement that feels that upper limit isn’t good enough. If that movement becomes one embraced by the ML owners, the next step will be how to most effectively deal with it.
I won’t care if it’s done by allowing challenges like they do with IR, if they use Pitch fx or some other technology like it, of if they make the PU wear some kind of heads-up display and allows him to be the only one making the final decision. I just want to see the current rate of correct calls on pitches not swung at improved. 